ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT VOWS TO KEEP PROBLEMS OF LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES AT FOREFRONT OF INTERNATIONAL CONCERN
Press Release
GA/9109
ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT VOWS TO KEEP PROBLEMS OF LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES AT FOREFRONT OF INTERNATIONAL CONCERN
19960930 Tells Ministerial Meeting of Need to Ensure 'Hopes, Aspirations Of Teeming Millions' Remain at Centre of Global Development DebateThis is the text of a statement by the President of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail (Malaysia), at the annual ministerial meeting of the least developed countries at Headquarters this afternoon:
Your [the chairman's] opening statement has eloquently outlined the development problems currently faced by the least developed countries, who are the poorest and most vulnerable members of the world community. I am fully confident that under your wise stewardship, this meeting will be able to provide a renewed impetus to international cooperation for the least developed countries.
The Paris Declaration, adopted unanimously by the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries held in 1990, stated that, and I quote:
"Refusal to accept the marginalization of the least developed countries is an ethical imperative. It also corresponds to the long-term interests of the international community. In an increasingly interdependent world, the maintenance or deepening of the gap between the rich and poor contains serious seeds of tension. Our world will not enjoy lasting peace without respect for the United Nations Charter, international commitments and shared development."
These words of the Paris Declaration are as valid today as they were six years ago. During that period a serious dichotomy had emerged in the implementation of the Programme of Action for the least developed countries. While a large number of least developed countries have taken steps to reform, their development partners have lagged behind in providing the agreed level of support. While donors made a collective commitment to make available to the least developed countries a substantial increase in official development assistance (ODA), this has not come to pass. In the interim, the external debt and debt servicing burden of many least developed countries have become unsustainable. Globalization of trade and capital flows have not benefited
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these countries and they have become marginalized.
Poverty has increased in many of these countries and the level of misery has become intolerable and contributed to the civil strife and conflicts. From Afghanistan to Zaire, scores of least developed countries have become embroiled in protracted conflicts or have had to bear the consequences thereof, by way of having to provide sanctuary to millions of refugees and displaced persons. In some cases, states have virtually collapsed under the weight of economic, political and social instabilities.
The socio-economic deterioration in the least developed countries is best illustrated by the stark statistics of economic growth. The average medium-term growth rate of the combined gross domestic product of those countries during 1991-1995 declined to less than 1 per cent per annum.
Despite these constraints, an increasing number of least developed countries have adopted painful policies and measures aimed at economic reform and structural change. At the same time a growing number of these countries have made the transition to democracy by holding multiparty elections under most difficult conditions. Several least developed countries emerging out of prolonged domestic turmoil have moved quickly to reconstruct and inject new vitality into their economies. The results of these efforts have been encouraging.
It is also sombering to note that cuts in bilateral assistance, and the uncertain prospects for International Development Association (IDA) and Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility bring to the fore the issue of sustaining the Programme of Action. The international community has an obligation to implement the commitments undertaken in the Programme of Action. Actions are needed in a number of areas. Their debt burden must be decisively reduced. These include actions on the part of the Bretton Woods organizations to broaden the scope and coverage of schemes to address the debt burden of the highly indebted poor countries, ensuring that the Enchanced Structural Aid Facility is put on a permanent basis and the commitments to IDA II are honoured and met.
The fifty-first session of the General Assembly provides the occasion for a sharpened dialogue on these issues and I urge all participants to make use of the opportunity to address the key issue and develop proposals that advance the implementation of the Programme of Action.
I should like to underline that in a rapidly globalizing world, the impetus to assist least developed countries comes not only from ethical imperatives, but also from enlightened self-interest. An end to the plight of those countries will certainly contribute to global and regional peace and
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harmony. Rising incomes of their half-billion population will have significant welfare implications for the rest of the world.
The United Nations, particularly the General Assembly, has been at the forefront of actions in favour of least developed countries. I would like to assure you that I shall do whatever is needed to ensure a full airing of the issues pertaining to these countries in the course of this session. The Assembly can play a stronger advocacy role by placing the hopes and aspirations of the teeming millions in the least developed countries at the centre of the development debate.
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